Written by Cody Benjamin at CBS Sports.com
On a scrappy night at PPG Paints Arena, where the NHL’s final two contenders combined for 11 power plays and more than 75 hits, the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins pulled away for a 4-1 win and a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final.
And it wasn’t close.
That wasn’t the case early on Wednesday, but by night’s end, the Pens unloaded a trio of third-period goals, an embattled Pekka Rinne had been yanked from the Nashville Predators’ net, and the surging Western Conference champs turned their attention to a much needed return home.
Pontus Aberg had the highlight-reel strike of the first period in Game 2, giving the Preds a 1-0 advantage 12:57 into the game on a patient and oh-so-smooth glide around Matt Murray.
But the first period was largely a penalty back-and-forth, with the teams combining for five power-play tries after just over 14 minutes of play, and the Penguins, despite frustration after noncalls on some early boarding and a Mattias Ekholm punch to the face of Jake Guentzel, taking advantage.
It was Guentzel — who is quickly rising on the league’s all-time leaderboard for rookie scorers in a postseason — who got the best of Rinne after the last of those first-period extra-man advantages. Guentzel’s goal knotted the contest at 1-1 with an extra-effort tap into the net.
And Pittsburgh — despite six shot blocks from Nashville’s blue line, a few impressive sliding saves from Rinne and a quiet opening for an under-attack Sidney Crosby — still entered the first intermission with more pucks fired at Nashville’s goal than from all of Game 1’s 5-3 decision.
And that was without any penalty help from an officiating crew that overlooked a brief slew of P.K. Subban forearms to Crosby — something the PPG Paints Arena crowd did not overlook. Crosby, of course, wasn’t without his own antics, delivering a little bit of uncalled slashing earlier in the night, and Chris Kunitz was even rougher with a cross-check to Subban, but there was plenty of other after-the-whistle officiating — or a lack thereof — that had both sides on edge.
To continue reading this article, click here.
